Grissom stepped off the plane and made his way straight to the taxi line.
"296 Pine Tree Road." Grissom relayed his address to the cabbie. He sat in the backseat and looked out the window. A smile grew on his face at the thought of seeing Sara again. He looked down at his watch and realized the time, she was just in the middle of shift, she wouldn't be home.
"Excuse me, sir? Could you please reroute to the Las Vegas Crime Lab." The cabbie agreed and turned the car around, headed toward the LV CL.
Grissom walked through the lab doors for the first time in four weeks.
"Welcome back Dr. Grissom!" Judy gushed from her receptionists desk.
"Great to be back." He smiled.
Grissom walked through the halls saying cordial "hello"s and "how are you"s, looking, hoping, to run into Sara.
"Grissom!"
He turned to see Greg standing there.
"Hello, Greg."
They exchanged a quick and simple conversation. They went to part ways before Grissom added,
"Oh hey, by the way, have you seen Sara?"
"Yeah, she's out at a scene. Probably wont be back for a few hours."
A few hours. Grissom decided to keep himself busy by meeting Warrick at a scene to help him process. But that only lasted two hours and Sara still wasn't back at the lab by the time he was.
He now sat behind his desk and began to rummage through the paperwork. Triaging the important from the less important. But his mind was preoccupied.
A few minutes later he looked up to see her walking right past his office down the hallway. He quickly pushed to his feed and hurried out of his office.
"Sara!" He called just as she passed, taking off his reading glasses to get a better look of her.
She stopped in her tracks at the sound of his voice. Turning on her heels she saw him standing there. Her heart fluttered and her hands felt numb suddenly.
There he was. His beard was grown out longer than he'd ever let if before, his eyes were bright and there was a certain spring in his step that she hadn't seen in a while.
"Hey, you're back." She could barely speak she was so surprised. She hadn't expected him back for a few more days.
He drew closer to her, not able to stop himself. Suddenly she realized the state she was in and walked backwards.
"I-I've been out at..."
"A garbage dump?" He took in her appearance but he didn't care. He kept walking toward her, drawn to her.
"Yeah...It's so obvious isn't it?" She smiled through her embarrassment. This is not how she wanted to look or smell when she saw him again. "Nice um... You look good."
He kept walking toward her, and she kept walking backwards.
"Did you, uh, put the cocoon in my office?" He had noticed it there on his shelf earlier.
"Cool, dry, not a lot of light. It seemed like the right place for it." He was getting closer despite her attempts to distance them.
"I think you're going to be surprised when it hatches." His boyish grin made his whole face glow as his blue eyes gazed deeply into hers.
"I have no doubt." She smiled through pursed lips, "I'm gonna, go clean up now." Finally she created distance between them. She could only imagine what she looked like in that moment after sorting through trash for the last four hours.
She walked off as she heard him call to her, "I'll see you later?" Meant as a statement for passerbys, but she knew better. He wanted to make sure, he needed to know that he would see her again sooner rather than later.
She turned back to look at him and smiled knowingly, "Yeah." She spoke simply, "You will." She held his gaze just a moment longer before heading off to the showers.
She received a text about 30 minutes later from him, "I took a cab here from the airport." Since he was texting her work phone she knew that his language was purposefully cryptic. She smiled knowing that he meant he needed a ride home.
She appeared in his doorway later that night, "Hi." Her small voice filled his senses and he looked up to see her standing there. She'd showered and changed since their last interaction.
He stood and walked around his desk, "Hi." He took in her appearance. His heart skipped a beat. "Close the door." He said softly with a gesture of his head. She did as she was asked then walked past him to see the cocoon on the shelf.
"There's a little tear in it now. That was there at the start of shift."
Grissom move toward her and leaned in behind her, looking at the cocoon. "It's getting ready to come out." His breath kissed her ear. She turned her face to the right, coming within mere centimeters of his own. "Within the next day or two I'd say." His words were even quieter now.
She leaned in and kissed him softly at first. They had never kissed within the confines of their shared workplace. They knew better than that, usually. But she couldn't help herself and he was relieved that she couldn't because he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hold himself back.
His hand automatically rose to the side of her face. Touching her soft skin.
She broke the kiss, "You came back early."
He nodded, "I could have stayed a few more days but..." His voice trailed off.
"You missed the lab?"
"I missed you."
Her breath caught her in throat. She moved to hug him tightly, nuzzling her head in the nook of his shoulder. "I missed you too." She whispered into his ear. "Let's go home." She could feel him nod against her.
Sara keyed the door open and let him in, then closed the door behind them.
He stepped inside and took a look around. Three books on the coffee table, two closed, one flipped upside-down, opened.
"How many books did you read while I was gone?" He turned to her with a knowing smile.
She shrugged, "Six, seven maybe?"
He laughed knowingly. She reached up to touch his beard. Running her fingers through the thick, corse hairs. In one swift movement he closed the gap between them and hit his lips to hers hard, desperately.
He could feel her moan against him. Her hands roaming. He guided her to the bedroom. Clothing was quickly discarded along the way until they were standing there beside the bed. He stepped back to look at her as she stood there in just a bra and underwear.
Her breath became shallow and fast. She needed him.
"Gil" She breathed pleadingly.
He took her lips in his once more and kissed her deeply. His hands gently grazed over her bare sides, up her back, over hear shoulders and down to her chest. She pushed him onto the bed and straddled him.
He could barely process how he was feeling in that moment. Excited, happy, awed. His heart was beating faster and she could feel it below her hand that gently rest on his chest.
She stared deep into his eyes as she pushed him into her. Their lips met again and he could feel her moan against him. His mind dipped into a blissful haze. He was home.
February 2007
Grissom opened the package on his desk. Stunned by its contents he rushed out into the hallway.
"Catherine! Layout room. now." He hurried there with the miniature he was holding.
Ernie Dell was not there guy and the miniature killer was still out there. The addressed package to Grissom made it personal.
Late that night, after both murders played out and the evidence they had was followed, Grissom and Sara sat in the AV lab looking through Ernie Dell's home videos.
"We reran the video footage several times to get a head count. Assuming that they're all Dell foster kids, there's 13 of them."
"At this birthday party."
"Yeah. Lionel only remembered first names. Getting the DHS records is going to be tough. Judges hate giving them out unless we can demonstrate pressing need... and even then they're spotty. A lot of foster kids change their names when they age out."
"Ernie Dell confessed and killed himself to protect someone he loved. And that someone has murdered five people." He paused a moment and turned to face her. Her eyes glued to the screen. "Did you?"
"Did I what?"
He spoke hesitantly, not sure whether he was treading in unwanted territory, "Change your name?"
She looked back at him and shook her head, "No." She paused a moment before continuing, "I thought about it." She confessed, "But my past is a part of who I am I guess, whether I like that or not. Changing my name wasn't going to rewrite my childhood."
He nodded and placed a gentle hand on her back. He was finding it hard to withhold affectionate touches from her at work since his return. She kept warning him each time, giving him a knowing look, but he couldn't help it.
Just the other night they worked a case together at the scene of a recked red Ford Mustang. He walked to her and took the department camera from her. His hand leaving feathery touches along her arm as he slipped the camera's strap from her shoulder. She leaned into his touch and turned to him. She looked at him warningly.
The change in him since his return was not lost on Sara. His boyish grin resurfaced. He was more attentive and communicative. More affectionate. She loved it.
Her head laid against his bare chest, rising and falling with his breaths. His fingers gently stroked her soft hair as he kissed the top of her head. Her presence warmed him to his core. They laid there together. Spent and content.
"I'd like to shave before shift."
She nodded against him, "Okay."
"Will you?"
They stood in the bathroom. His face lathered with shaving cream. She took out the straight razor.
"Do you trust me?" She turned to him, wielding the razor in her right hand.
He looked deep into her eyes, "intimately." She smiled softly at him and began to shave away the hair from his cheeks. He continued to stare at her as she moved methodically shaving inch by inch. Her beauty was breathtaking. And he knew in that moment, that he couldn't be happier.
"Sidle."
"Sara. Where are you."
"In layout. Is everything okay?"
"Come to my office. hurry."
Sara dropped what she was doing and walked briskly down the hall. She didn't even bother to knock as she opened his office door.
"Close the door behind you." She furrowed her brow as she looked at Grissom's back. He was facing the bookshelves behind his desk. She did as she was told and walked to him.
"Come here." His voice was soft as he moved to the side to let her see. "It's the cocoon." Sara leaned in close to see as the green and blue fluttering broke through the silk wrap.
His face brushed against her soft lavender scented hair. "Wow." She breathed watching the creature come to life.
"Beautiful." He was looking at her as he spoke. She nodded, not taking her eyes off the cocoon.
"Well worth the wait." She looked up at him and smiled. He wasn't the only one capable of speaking in double entendres.